Congress Wants to Track Every Device You Own

Congress Wants to Track Every Device You Own

August 28, 2026 · 36 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of the Digital Age Assurance Act on privacy and open-source software.

A New Law That Could Destroy Open Source Forever SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz To listen to the full episode and get access to more bonus episodes, an ad-free listening experience, and my weekly newsletter, subscribe to my Patreon or Substack 👇🏻 Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at ⁠https://www.usermag.co⁠ Support my work on Patreon: ⁠http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz⁠ The US Senate recently introduced the Digital Age Assurance Act, a sweeping piece of legislation that could fundamentally alter how every operating system and internet-connected device works. Under the guise of "protecting children online," this bill threatens to mandate ID verification directly into operating systems (not just social media or the internet, but operating systems themselves). This would impact everything from smartphones to PCs to open-source software like Linux. Obviously, this has huge implications for privacy, free speech, and the future of open-source development. On this week's Free Speech Friday, I sat down with Laz Pieper and Peter Van Valkenburgh from Coin Center…

People in this episode

Host: Taylor Lorenz

Guests: Laz Pieper, Peter Van Valkenburgh

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Coin Center, Linux, US Senate, Patreon, Substack, Digital Age Assurance Act

Books & works: The Correct Term for Age Verification is Censorship

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